News
UNEP report reveals impact of COVID-19 on UN system’s environmental footprint
The UN Greening the Blue Report measures the environmental footprint of UN organizations and showcases their efforts to reduce it The 2021 edition released by the UN Environment Programme this November is the first to reveal the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on the UN systems carbon emissions It also highlights UNESCOs urban garden as good practice contribution to biodiversity Greening the Blue launched in 2008 collects UN Systemwide data on greenhouse gas GHG emissions water and waste management This years Report analyses the 2020 environmental data of 56 UN system entities covering over 315000 personnel in Headquarters field offices and operations on the ground It expands reporting on the management functions identified in the Strategy for Sustainability Management in the United Nations 20202030 Phase I Environmental Sustainability in the Area of Management such as procurement and human resources Drastic decrease of emissions In 2020 the UNs operations and facilities emitted a total of 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent This is approximately 25 per cent fewer GHG emissions than in 2019 The steep reduction reflects the sudden and dramatic adaptations in operations that had to be made throughout 2020 as a result of the global COVID19 pandemic The drop was even sharper at UNESCO which emitted a total of 8 079 tonnes of CO2eq in 2020 63 less than in 2019 This is mainly due to the drastic reduction in air travel 83 less than in 2019 which now represents less than 30 of UNESCOs emissions compared to over 64 in 2020 Climate neutrality and contribution to biodiversity UNESCO also figures among the 99 of UN entities that were climate neutral in 2020 meaning that the organization offset all reported GHG emissions This was achieved through the purchase of Certified Emission Reductions partially via the UN Adaptation Fund and partially from two UNcertified emissionreduction projects a clean cook stove project in Malawi and a hydropower dam in Fiji While offsetting remains an important factor in managing unavoidable emissions the priority should be emission reduction and elimination UNESCO has made significant efforts in the past years to improve its environmental performance by setting up an organizationwide environmental management system This is also recognized in the Greening the Blue report which features a case study on page 23 of the new biodiversity and vegetable garden at UNESCO Headquarters For more information Full Greening the Blue report 2021 including methodology used for the greenhouse gas emissions waste and water inventories Methodology related to travel emissions provided by the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO Climate neutrality UN Climate Change UNESCO profile page on Greening the Blue website Environmental Management at UNESCO Staff guide to a Green UNESCO